Two more hotels get eco certification

The Radisson SAS Golden Sands Resort & Spa and to the Paradise Bay Resort Hotel have joined the eco-certification scheme and were this morning presented with certificates and glass plaques by Tourism Parliamentary Secretary Mario de Marco and Malta Tourism Authority Chief Executive Officer Josef Formosa Gauci.

Dr de Marco said that the eco-certification has over this last year grown in popularity partly due to the ever increasing importance that hotel management and consumers have been giving the environment.

“This can be confirmed from a survey carried out this year by the MTA with a sample size of 500 tourists. From the people interviewed over 47 percent stated that they consider environmental issues when booking their accommodation whilst almost 57 percent of the sample is willing to pay an average of eight percent more for eco-friendly accommodation,” he added.

The Parliamentary Secretary said that today we have 14 eco-certified hotels . Another seven hotels had been audited but still needed time to meet all the necessary criteria.

He stressed that while the scheme was very popular among five-star hotels and there was a fair share of interest amongst four-star hotels, more two and three-star hotels were being encouraged to apply for certification.

Currently there were only two eco-certified three-star hotels as opposed to six five-star and six four-star hotels. The seven hotels that have been audited but have yet to be certified, are five or four-star.

There was a lot of interest from Gozo and a Gozitan hotel would start forming part of the scheme soon.

www.visitmalta.com/eco_certification

Photo – DOI, Clodagh Farrugia O’Neill